Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-02-20
Mbselin9 Rssister
FOR THE LADIES.
JENNIE JUNES EXPERIENCES IN HUNTING
WORK ON NEWSPAPERS.
Something New About Hon. John A. LOgan-hne
Lingerie Indoor and 0It-Chat aud HSlP
of all Kinds
BIZ Eli-uR ahldm HcutOsa


time"
had climbed the stairs TO Mrs. CroyPs
snug little perch Of IN editorial office up
under the roofs ON the top floor OF
Demorest's publishing house, and had
pushed open the door TO see a cup OF
bouillon Steaming away on the writing
desk and y pen scratching busily over
white paper.
There was net in those days a woman
at work i'm any newspaper office IN the
city the chatty correspondent went on,
As the ink ceased for u faw minutes to
flow. and she leaned back in reminiscent
mood. II applied first at the SuR office,
thinking | might stand a better chance
there than on some of the older and larger
papers. They stared ut me IN blank
amazement. To employ a woman ON q
newspaper was q thing almost unheard o.
Margaret Fuller ought to have paved the
way by her work on the Tribune, butShe was
in the city 80 short a time comparatively
that her example seemed to he altogether
lost. The Herald and the Tribune both
took articles from ME, but neither thought
OF paying for them, and it looked rs If the
effort to lind u place to do regular news
paper work WAS labor lost.
AS | remember itnOw," and Mrs. CrOly
looked up with q laugh, the only eOnsid-
Grafton that the feminine public got from
the whole body of New York editors IN
those days came IN the shape of n little
fashion letter from Paris in the Commercial
AdrcrfiSer and an occasional translation
from lie F0Rst in the Herald.
''The change, when it did come, was a
sudden one. | got a chance on the Weekly
Times at last, and within ayear after l be-
gan there was hardly n weekly paper OF
any standing in the country that did not
have a m rs correspondent, or to edit
4 column on topics supposed Ia be oil IN
tereSt To women"
And what sort OF \ business for women
does il make" | asked. Would you,
with your experience behind you, advise a
girl looking tor a profession to try journal
ISM
There are few harder things that a girl
can try" said Mrs. Croly ~thOughtIully
I'll, instead of combining herself to oe-
~caSiOu4l fashion notes and gnSsipy CORES
pOndence, she takes a place ON the regular
stall of a paper and shoulders some OF the
serious work of journalism. For the i've
years that | WAS ON the weekly and sun
day Times the stan never exceeded three,
ami for tue most part included only TWO
persons. That was in war times, too, when
people expected u good deal OF life ana lire
from their papers. Between uS We wrote
the whole sheet except the weekly short
story.
II WIS the exchange editor, the dramatic
critic, the musical critic and the book re-
viewer. | never turned in less than two
columns, broad columns they were too, Oi
editorials, and another column and a hall
of minor editorial, sketches Of politicians
and generals. With all this | kept mp a
column and 4 half of my special depart
menL, 'parlUI and sidewalk gossip and at
tended 10 pretty much al the mail and
telegraph matter. Once for three weeks
when the editor WAS laid up with rheuma-
tism [ wrote the whole paper, including
his London letter-whiCh WAS got up this
side OF the water, by the way-and all.
1T was u hard life, and it is not any
easier, though u good deal different, now.
And yet q great many young women like
it and are doing good honest work IN 1t
right along to-day.
"rhe best chance for a Oma still, Is
pecially ia New York, IL in lines that
women found their way into first, CORES
pOndence, social tOpIcS-aRd I'd rather
take that in its hest than in its worst sense
and book reviewing. IL happens often
enough, especially in the smaller cities,
that "A woman Is accepted SOberly ~ an
editorial writer, and her mothers wit IL
utilized-gTatetully enough too since she
works for small pay-On every topic with
which the masculine brain Is called upon
10 g%rapple: but such instances are as yet,
1 believe, the exceptions, though they are
multiplying fast and may before long form
the the rule.
at is one of the pleaSanteSt things OF
to-day that there is no sex in good work.
Sooner or later women will find their
level, and what they can do there will not
be lacking chances for them to do. AS
yet we lack, the most of us, the training
that gives eXactness and accurate habits OF
mimi, hut so fast ~ We find out what our
deficiencies are, | believe we have common
sense enough Ia remedy them
What part of your newspaper work
have you enjoyed mOst?" | asked, rs Mrs.
Croly finished with the decided emphasis
Ofa woman Who believes in the possibilities
of women.
IL used To bring down wrath upon my
head. - she laughed, because said | liked
editorial work best, because could do
thai in my sleep. Editorial writing suits
the feminine temperament ~ q matter OF
course. The most that 1t requires Is a
positive opinion, and we women are never
lacking in that. You study your subject,
or not, rs YOU choose. Then you assume
an authoritative tone and declare your SEN
timentS with diStinCtneSS and with all the
force OF the great imperSonal newspaper
property behind you. Audthe dear public
reads aud never once recognizes the hand
OF the single little woman that IL all that
is really represented by the autOcratic
pOmp OF the editorial we
Seriously though women have had COM
paratively little chance II show what I IA
they are made of in responsible newspaper
positions. Mrs. Nicholson, the proprietor
of the New Orleans PieayHRr, makes the
best of editors. She has more than kept
up the reputation of the paper and directs
its policy with acumcn and good sense,
But asa rule, newspapers, which are great
pieces OF property, money making concerns
as much as a big mill or factory, nowadays
require too much capital for many wOmen
as vet to nave been associated in their
ownership OF to have had much to do with
the real direction OF their policy.
women are only serving their appren'
ticeship To the printers craft Yet, but they
are doing their time well and faithfully
When | see a really ~ScandalOus thing II
the columns of society gossip. l always
hope and usually believe, no matter what
the name signed at the close, that it was
not really written by n woman, for !
believe in the conscience rs we'll as tht
aptitude of women. They have had thell
trimming to get, they have had to lind out
what their functions really are, and they
have had to take into account the rapid
changes in the newspapers themselves
which have developed amazingly in twenty
wears. Taking all things into account,
4kou hava dome we'll and will do better vel